The pitch for India’s T20 World Cup 2024 opener against Ireland has been a topic of discussion. India and Ireland will square of on Wednesday at the Nassau Country International Stadium, with the venue only hosting one match so far in the tournament and it was played between South Africa and Sri Lanka on Monday. The pitch, however, turned out to be a shocker in that game as Sri Lanka were bowled out for a meagre 77 in 19.1 overs. Although South Africa won the game in the end, the pitch made the chase trickier as the Proteas had to struggled for 16.2 overs.
In India’s case, they played Bangladesh in a warm-up game last week at the same venue, while three of the four group matches will also be held here.
Ahead of the match against Ireland, India captain Rohit Sharma said he isn’t sure which pitch would be used for their game in New York.
“There is a square of four pitches. I don’t know which wicket we will be playing on. So, who knows – the wicket that we are playing tomorrow might be a good wicket to bat on. So, it’s all about adapting,” Rohit said in a pre-match press conference.
Rohit added that while he didn’t watch the match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, the Indian players will do their best to adapt if the conditions are similar.
“I didn’t get to watch the game. I was a little busy with my family who had arrived yesterday. But no, certainly I know how the pitch played, hearing from my other teammates, and we’ve got a lot of guys in the team and the support staff were talking about what happened in that game. But, again, all I can say is we’ll make the best decision possible for these conditions, whatever the best level we feel. We’ll just go to the ground and have a look at the pitch,” he added.
Rohit also signed off by saying that the outfield at the newly-built stadium is also a concern.
“Certainly, a lot of things are very uncertain in terms of the outfield and how the pitch will play. Like I said just now, it’s all about adapting and getting used to that condition real fast, because you don’t have too much time. And if the pitch plays well, we certainly know what to do on pitches that are playing well. When the pitch is doing a little bit, we know exactly what we need to do as a batting group. And also, the bowling group as well. It’s just not about batting. When you have a pitch like that, which is slightly helpful for the bowlers, bowlers have an important role to play as well,” Rohit concluded.
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